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Top official leaves for J&K to assess situation

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

T R Kakkar, special secretary (Kashmir) in the ministry of home affairs, today left for Srinagar to assess the situation in the state following the killing of state Power Minister Ghulam Hassan Bhat in an explosion in Anantnag which also claimed four other lives.

"Yes, the special secretary is going to Srinagar to assess the situation in the state following yesterday's brutal murder of Bhat. The special secretary will meet state officials and leaders including Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and return in the evening to report to Union Home Minister Lal Kisehchand Advani," a senior home ministry official told rediff.com.

Kakkar's office, however, said, "The special secretary's wife is unwell and that is why he is not attending office today."

It is learnt that Kakkar's Kashmir visit will assess the morale of the officials in the state administration in their uphill task of fighting the militants.

Dr Abdullah, like Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, has reiterated that the attempts of vested interests both at home and abroad to discourage talks to end the Kashmir problem would not succeed.

Expressing shock over Bhat's killing, Dr Abdullah said, "Those behind such barbaric and inhuman incidents do not want peace restored in the state. But our army is ready to accept the challenge and will soon launch a major operation to flush out the militants."

In yet another attempt to discourage the government's move for a dialogue with All-Party Hurriyat Conference leaders for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir problem, the militants this morning fired four rifle grenades at the heavily guarded Tagore hills in the heart of Srinagar. Close by is the battalion headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force at Gogjibagh.

Significantly, even as some pro-Pakistan groups of the APHC are still dragging their feet over the talks, senior leaders in the state like former chief minister Mir Qasim and former Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed have supported the move.

The pro-dialogue moves received a boost yesterday when former external affairs minister Karan Singh, who lost the parliamentary polls from the Lucknow constituency as a Congress candidate against Vajpayee, extending support to the initiative.

Welcoming the government's release of some Hurriyat leaders from jail, Dr Singh cautioned that "multilateral and multi-level talks" were necessary for a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem.

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